Rhea walked down her high school hallway, looking down, not wanting to catch the many gazes on her. She was listening to her ipod, but could still here the many girls calling her "freak" and "weirdo". She stopped getting angry at the name calling about a year ago. They didn't even know her, they just called her that because she didn't join the cheerleading team or go to the many football games her school held. In her opinion, she had better things to do with her life than caring what people thought about her, just because she didn't conform in the way they wanted her too.
"Two more days of this crap, and then I'm free," she thought to herself and smiled. Summer vacation was probably the most exciting thing that could happen in her life right now, and she was definitely looking forward to it. She saw her friend Ella at the end of the hallway and quickened up her pace to catch up to her, Ella also did the same thing. Then some blonde girl walked deliberately in front of Rhea, and tripped her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said smiling to her friends who were laughing at Rhea on the ground, "Maybe you should watch where you are going, freak." She said laughing hysterically back to her friends, and Ella was running as fast as she could to her friend. Rhea finally lost it, she didn't do anything to that girl, but yet she still picked on her. Rhea's eyes began to glow a brighter blue than they were before, and she slowly stood up with her arms out by her side, palms facing the girl. The blonde and her friends just looked at Rhea and continued to point and laugh, when their laughing was cut short by a strong rumble underneath their feet. They were quickly shot up off the ground, since it began to form small mountains beneath their feet, and then the doors flew open to every classroom, and a strong gust of wind kept them in the air and then forcefully threw them down on the ground with a loud thud. The girls screamed in pain, one's forehead was bleeding, another had a lot of cuts and bruises, and the blonde who tripped her had her leg contorted in a direction it shouldn't go. Rhea's eyes then came back to normal and she couldn't breathe. She fell to her knee's gasping for breath as Ella came up right beside her and asked her if she was okay. Everyone in the school was now crowded around them, and teachers came running to see what the commotion was about. One said to call an ambulance, and another screamed at Rhea to go to the office. Ella draped Rhea's arm over her shoulder and helped her up to the principal's office, but turned around to look at the girls one last time.
"You shouldn't have messed with her," Ella said smiling sarcastically at them.
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"What the hell did you do?!" Rhea's father yelled at her when he heard about the three girls in the hospital.
"I…I don't know." Rhea said quietly so no one could here.
"What?!" Her father yelled back. The drive home was the longest ride Rhea had ever been on. The principal said she was expelled from school, although no one had evidence that she did anything really. To some people she just stood there staring at the girls, but of course, their friends lied and said Rhea did something but they didn't know what. Ella whispered good job to Rhea as she sat her down in the office and told her to call her later when she found out her "verdict". They finally reached her house, and Rhea ran up to her room before her father could say anything else, or to see her mother cry. Of course, her parents followed her, but she slammed the door in their face and locked it.
"Open this door, right now!" Her dad yelled, and she leaned her back against the door.
"Go away, Jesus Christ!" Rhea finally yelled back. Her father was quiet for a minute, but then continued to bang on the door.
"I want to know what you did to those girls," he yelled again.
"Well maybe if you stop yelling at me, we could talk!" Rhea yelled back through the door.
"You know what, I don't want to talk now, not until you lose that attitude," he said sternly and Rhea rolled her eyes, Stupid hypocrite. God, I hate him. Rhea stood up from her door and walked over to her desk and dialed Ella's number.
"Hey girl! You okay?" Ella said after the first ring.
"Oh yeah, just peachy. I'm expelled from school, so I'm guessing no graduation, my father won't stop yelling at me, and my mother is too afraid to look at me. Other than that, I'm fine." She said in a joking voice as she flopped onto her bed.
"Oh jeez, that sucks…bad. But Ray, you should have seen the look on those girls faces! It was priceless. You kicked their ass." Ella said chomping down on something, most likely celery.
"But El, I can't stay here, something is wrong with me, and I don't know what."
"Ray…how do I tell you this…you're…you're…You know what, I'm coming over okay?"
"El, my parents wont let you in. You know that."
"Who said I'll come in through the front door?" Ella said and then quickly hung up. Rhea threw her phone on the ground and stared up at her ceiling. She silently thanked God that she had a friend like Ella. They had been friends since elementary school, and they went through a lot of the same things. They both had parents who didn't understand them, they both weren't really accepted in school, and they both were "special" as Rhea put it. And of course, they both got into a shit load of trouble, but they loved that. Being a trouble maker was their freedom, since no one understood them, but that didn't matter because they never got caught at anything. Like putting super glue on the cheerleader's pom-poms or stealing all the food in the teachers lounge, or setting off the fire alarm because they wanted to go home. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Ella slipped into her room by her window, but noticed when there was a sudden beam of light in her room.
"Ah, put that out!" Rhea said dramatically as she rolled over in her bed.
"Jealous!" Ella said in a singing voice. "So, on my way over here, everyone was talking about your little fun with the girls. You might not want to show your face around town for a bit." Ella said as she laid next to Rhea.
"Oh, thank you so much for that news," Rhea said muffled in her pillow, and let out a heavy sigh. "So what is you grand news that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" Rhea said rolling over again and sitting up.
"Right! So, as you put it we are 'special', but, you know me and my awesome researching, I have come to the conclusion that we are…mutants! There are like a million other people like us Rhea; we aren't as alone as you think!"
"Mutants? You've got to be kidding me…" Rhea said while rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Ray, we are unusual, we have powers that no one else has. We're like…like superheroes!" Ella sat up as she said 'superheroes' dramatically.
"Does that mean I get to wear a cape?" Rhea asked sarcastically to Ella looking up at her.
"Come on Rhea, take this serious, please."
"No Ella, you take it serious. We are freaks and we are not welcome in this world. People hate us just because we were born with…powers. We shouldn't be here, and now people know about me."
"They don't know anything Rhea. No one can prove anything."
"Ella, they know that I can do something unnatural. I need to get away…"
"Well, I did find this school for people like us. It's own by this guy named...Charles Xavier, or something like that. I don't want you to leave, but if you had to go somewhere, I'd rather you go there." Ella said going over to Rhea's computer and typing something into it.
"Ella, honey, I really don't think I want to go there, I think I might just go to like Canada or something." Rhea said laying back down on her bed while rubbing her head. Ella just laughed at her and continued her search for something. Then a loud knock on Rhea's door made them both jump. Ella jumped to her feet and looked around frantically, and then ran towards Rhea's closet and hid, while Rhea jumped off her bed and went towards her door.
"What?" Rhea asked through the door.
"Rhea, the police are here…" She heard her father say. Ella poked her head out of the closet and motioned towards the computer, where a website was open for Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Rhea sighed and mouthed to Ella for her to grab her book bag and start packing for her. Then Rhea took her attention back to her dad, knowing that she had to buy some time so she could get some things together.
"Why?!" She asked with her best surprised voice.
"The girl's parents are pressing charges against you, and the police want to interview you," he said calmly.
"Fine…I'll…give me a few minutes and I'll be down in a second," Rhea said turning her head to check Ella's progress on packing. Ella was quickly throwing all the clothes of Rhea's she could find into a big book bag, and then started to search for Rhea's secret stash that was somewhere in her room.
"Please don't keep them waiting," her father said quietly and then Rhea listened as he walked away.
"Where the heck did you hide it this time?" Ella said throwing stuff around.
"Behind my dresser!" Rhea whispered loudly, shoving her clothes into her book bag even further. Ella quickly pushed Rhea's dresser forward, causing her jewelry box and small trophies to fall on the floor with a small bang. Ella gasped and froze in place when she heard the noise and Rhea instantly looked towards her door.
"Great job El, now we really have to hurry up!" Rhea said, raising her voice and slamming her shoes into her book bag.
"I'm sorry!" Ella yelled back, and then she bent down to the small wooden box that was behind Rhea's dresser. She pulled out a roll of twenties and raised her eyebrow to Rhea.
"What?!"
"Did you rob a bank?" Ella said throwing the twenties to Rhea.
"No. Unlike you, I can save my money and not spend it the moment it touches my hand."
"Ha…ha. Alright, you better get out of here, quick." Ella said helping Rhea put on her back pack.
"Okay…well, this looks like goodbye." Rhea said looking down at their feet.
"No Ray, this is 'See you later'. Believe me, I'm gonna come with you after school ends and things cool down after your disappearance." She said with a smile.
"El, I want you to know you're my best friend…"
"Ray, don't make this a sloppy 'see you later'."
"And I just want you to know…you're a bitch! Hah!" Rhea said and then quickly jumped out of her window to her tree.
"It is on Rhea…it is on!" Ella called behind her, and Rhea smiled to herself as she ran down her street and started to run toward to highway. Crap, I have a long way to go.
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Rhea called Ella, not to long after she had left, realizing that she had no clue where she was going. Ella told her that the school was in Westchester County, and that she was definitely going to have to hitch a ride or hot wire a car. Great, just what I want to do…hot wire a car, just so the cops can find me and then I'll have to go home, face my parents, police, and the charges against me. Whoo hoo! Rhea thought to herself as she walked down a dark alley looking for any cars that looked somewhat old, and easy to break into. Why did I listen to Ella, I mean she is a blonde for god sake. Ugh, you know what; I'm going to take my chances walking. I mean, what it's like one or two states away, I'll catch a bus if I get tired. Then sun was starting to set as Rhea continued to walk, now down a busy street. She passed stores and people smiling and laughing, being normal human beings and Rhea longed for that. She knew she was different, but she wasn't sure if she wanted it. But then she began to think to herself, she was lucky. She was born with these powers, but never knew she had them until the beginning of middle school, and then she started to feel angry to normal people because of the way they treated her since she was "different". She sighed heavily to herself and walked toward a store so rest for a second. She turned towards the window and looked at herself for the first time in what seemed to be days but only was a few hours. Her red hair was a bit tangled, so she quickly ran her fingers through it. She then saw that her eye liner was beginning to smear so she quickly rubbed her fingers under her eyes to fix it. She then looked into her blue eyes, they looked so tired but she felt fine. She sighed again, feeling that she needed to, and turned away from the window and began to walk again. She called Ella again to ask her about bus routes, and Ella told her the next bus that was near her was going to go to the county right next to Westchester, and that she better get on that one. Rhea ended up running towards the bus stop, and then slowly climbed that stairs on the bus.
"Hard day?" The bus driver asked as Rhea put her money in.
"You wouldn't believe it," She said, and then she slowly walked towards to back of the bus. She decided that she had a bit of time before she arrived, so she took a nap, and when she woke up, she was at her designation.
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Rhea was walking in the direction the bus driver showed her for Westchester County, but he didn't know where the school was, so she thanked him and began walking. She was still a little tired, but she shook it off, knowing that she had to get to this school soon before there was a search party after her, but then she remembered she was in a different state, and she didn't think the search party would go that far. She was walking down a two lane road, with trees everywhere. Not many cars seemed to go up and down this road, so the only sound that Rhea heard was the trees around her. Then, in the distance, Rhea heard a loud engine coming towards her, but she continued to walk at the same pace, just a little surprised about the car, but then as it zoomed by her, it screeched to a stop and went in reverse right in front of her. Rhea stopped walking and stared at the driver's side door, praying that the driver would get out. Her heart began to quicken its pace, as she stood there in fear, and then it stopped as the driver's door and passenger door opened. A man stepped out of the driver's seat with red sunglasses on and short brown hair, and a woman with a darker shade of red then Rhea's stepped out. Rhea took a step back as they began to walk towards her.
"Is this her?" The guy asked and the woman shook her head. They continued to walk towards her, and Rhea continued to walk backwards.
"Stay away from me, both of you!" She yelled, but they didn't stop. She then raised her hands towards them and a strong gust of air began to push them back. Rhea stopped walking, but kept her hands where they were and she pushed them back to where their car was, and then she put her hands down.
"Alright, now stay right there, and don't come towards me. 'Kay? I don't want to have to hurt you." She said as they just looked at her.
"No wonder why the Professor picked her up with Cerebro." They guy said to the girl as he fixed his hair and the woman nodded again.
"We are not going to harm you." The woman finally said. "Why don't you just get in the car, and we'll get you to where you want to go. We promise we won't hurt you."
"Isn't that what all kidnappers say? 'We won't harm you'. Believe me Red; I've seen my share of Dateline." Rhea said scoffing at what she said.
"Look, we know where you are going." The man said, taking a step forward.
"Shades, I advice you not to do that," Rhea said holding up a hand towards him, and he stopped.
"Okay, she is starting to get on my nerves, and starting to remind me of Logan." The man said and the woman smiled.
"Alright, we will introduce ourselves so we are not strangers. My name is Jean Grey, and this is Scott Summers or Cyclops." Jean said with a very kind voice and smile.
"Cyclops? Wow…that is a sucky nickname." Rhea said smiling.
"Yep, just like Logan," Cyclops said as he leaned against his car.
"Alright, my name is Rhea, but that's all I'm telling you."
"Rhea, honey, we know you are going to the school. Charles Xavier sent us here to give you a ride so you won't have to walk." Jean said taking a step forward to see if Rhea would stop her.
"How do you know where I am going?" Rhea said taking a step back.
"Rhea, we are just like you," Cyclops said walking next to Jean, "We are mutants too." Rhea looked at them confused and took a small step forward.
"Prove it."
Cyclops sighed and then shot a short optic blast out of his eyes towards the ground, and Rhea laughed nervously as he looked back up at her. She took a side step so he wasn't looking at her directly and then began to walk towards Jean.
"Uh, sorry about being a pain. You gotta be careful!" Rhea said as she reached Jean and Jean just smiled at her and opened the door of the car for her. No wonder he wears those funny glasses Rhea thought to herself and Jean laughed slightly and looked over to Cyclops as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"What?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. Let's go." Jean said, and Cyclops took off.